Brigid Daull Brockway is technically a writer

Brigid Daull Brockway is technically a writer

A blog about words, wordplay, and etymology, with slightly more than occasional political rants.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

gorilla gorilla gorilla gorilla gorilla gorilla gorilla gorilla gorilla gorilla gorilla gorilla

The Western Lowland gorilla is a very special gorilla indeed. You see, all gorillas belong to the genus gorilla and the species Gorilla. Western Lowland gorillas belong to the sub-species gorilla, making them gorilla gorilla gorillas. But from where do we get the name gorilla? Well, that's a story so depressing it rather takes the wind out of my gorilla gorilla gorilla sails.
Once upon a time, there was this dude named Hanno, who was a navigator from Carthage. In exploring the Northwest coast of Africa, he and his men ran across a race of people that their translators called Gorrilae. They were wild, hairy, and savage, so naturally the Hanno and his boys snatched up some of the women and skinned them. Like one does.
And then the missionary Thomas Savage finds some gorilla specimens in 1847 and goes "Hey, you know that appalling story from random ancient Carthaginian history that I just happen to know off the top of my head? Let's name these guys after that."
Can't something be whimsical just once?



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That picture's hysterical. And...forwarded to my Dad.

Brigid Daull Brockway said...

Comixed.com. Awesome stuff.

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